Figure 37

Characteristics of high-efficiency dialysis. High-efficiency dialysis is arbitrarily defined by a high clearance rate of urea (>210 mL/min). High-efficiency membranes can be made from either cellulosic or synthetic materials. Depending on the membrane material and surface area, the removal of water (as measured by the ultrafiltration coefficient or Kuf) and molecules of middle molecular weight (as measured by ^-microglobulin clearance) may be high or low [3,4,6,7].

Differences between high- and low-efficiency hemodialysis. Conventional hemodialysis refers to low-efficiency low-flux hemodialysis that was the popular modality before the 1980s [3,6].